Choice of Paths
by ilarual
Summary: Ryuuji doesn't run away quite so fast on Christmas Eve. With the seeds of doubt planted in Ryuuji's mind and Minori more convinced than ever that following her heart would be a betrayal, the road to happiness takes a few unexpected turns.


**Author's Note–** I know I'm not the first person to tackle this scene. I haven't read all that much Toradora fanfiction (hardly any, in fact), but I've been in enough fandoms to know that for any series with upwards of one hundred fics, a scene like this is _guaranteed_ to have been rewritten _at least_ once. But what can I say? I'm a sucker for this kind of fic. So here's me, trying my hand at it.

Fair warnings:

 **1)** This is wholly un-beta'd so I'm certain there are errors littered all over here, despite my own attempts at tidying up, and  
 **2)** I'm involved in a major writing challenge in the Soul Eater fandom that runs through December (plus shipping weeks and a few fics of my own inclination outside of that) so don't expect frequent updates. I'll try my hardest, however!

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 **1\. What Cannot Be Unseen**

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It happened on the turn of a dime, really. A small choice, a brief hesitation, nothing more. The world was teetering on a precipice, hovering on the edge of an inevitable fall, but the crash and calamity was still hanging in the balance. The inescapable truth could be delayed, just for a little longer. But lives cannot maintain a perfect status quo forever, and the briefest of indecisions shattered that fragile stasis.

As he stepped past the gate of the apartment high-rise, Ryuuji hesitated. Left or right? Turning right was the shorter route back to Ohashi, but a section of the sidewalk was blocked off, and in his bulky costume, navigating around the barricades would be a pain. Turning left would take longer… but maybe that was a good thing?

His visit to Taiga had managed to make him forget his plan for the evening. He had been so caught up in her laughter, in how warm she made a room even when the temperature was freezing, that all his nerves and jittery excitement had faded.

When she had shoved him out the door just moments ago, however, his objective tonight was forced back to the forefront of his mind. Tonight was the night he would finally speak up to Kushieda and end this romantic limbo once and for all. Taiga had worked so hard to give him this opportunity, and he couldn't let her efforts go to waste. If he was going to confess, he was going to make it worth all the work Taiga had put in, and do it right. He needed to be calm. He needed to figure out what to say— as if he hadn't thought it over in his head a thousand times for months last year. But he hadn't contemplated the words he would use to profess his feelings to Kushieda for a long time now, too busy trying to keep up with Taiga's chatter and complaining to have the mental time to spare, and he was out of practice. If he was going to bring the right words to the surface, he was going to need time to think.

He gave it another few seconds' thought.

The world teetered.

 _Left it was, then._

A butterfly flapped its wings.

He had just crossed the street when the clatter of a door slamming open made him pause in the deep shadow of another high-rise. The sound of bare feet on the pavement reached his ear, and he turned just in time to witness Taiga pelting out of the gate, screaming his name. She sent one desperate, burning glance his way, but even from here he could tell that her eyes were too full of tears to see him. Still calling for him— "Ryuuji! _Ryuuji!_ "— she turned to the right, taking a few stumbling steps before she fell to her knees, sobbing bitterly.

What could _possibly_ have happened in the two minutes since he'd left her that would make her break down like this?

"Tai—"

A hand slammed over her mouth and a fist clenched on the back of his costume, halting his instinctive step back towards Taiga. He let out a yelp of surprise as he was dragged around the corner, the sound muffled against his assailant's palm. He turned around, and found he had been arrested by Kushieda Minori herself.

"Ku-Kushieda!" he sputtered when she took her hand away.

She shushed him, every muscle in her body tense as she let him go. "Not. A. Sound." she mouthed.

"But Taiga—"

The hand was slapped over his mouth again. A brief struggle ensued as Ryuuji tried to extricate himself. He could still hear Taiga crying, helpless, fragile gasps of his name squeaking out between sobs, and comforting Taiga, helping her stand up if she fell down, was as much a reflex as it was a choice. Standing by when she was in distress was anathema to him. But Minori wasn't the uncontested athletics queen of Ohashi High School for nothing, and despite his obvious size advantage, she managed to subdue him with relative ease. Hampered by his heavy costume, he was forced to subside, and the brief, silent battle ceased.

"What are you _doing?_ " he hissed. "Why did you stop me? She- Taiga is-!"

"Do you really think she would want you to see her crying for you like this?" Minori cut him off. There was something sad and terribly meaningful in the look she was giving him, but Ryuuji couldn't decipher it. There was something in her words he was supposed to understand, but it didn't matter what she was trying to convey. Taiga was crying, she was _hurting_ , and he didn't know what was wrong, but staying away was impossible.

"What she wants and what she needs aren't always the same thing," he hissed, irritated and utterly confounded that she would withhold any comfort from a friend in need. It wasn't like her. He wrenched away from her and threw himself around the corner.

It took forever and no time at all to race back down the block and throw himself down on his knees in front of the tiny girl. Kneeling was difficult in his ungainly costume, but he managed, and reached out with his clumsy "paws" to pull her hands from her face. She jumped a little at his touch, and looked up at him with bewildered, teary eyes.

"Ryuu... ji...?" she queried, and she sounded so _hesitant_ , something he had a hard time associating with Aisaka Taiga. He knew better than just about anyone that she had enough fears and insecurities to cripple an army, but she always faced them with such assuredness, such _ferocity_ , and seeing her truly fragile was a revelation. Not a pleasant one, though.

"Taiga." He didn't know what to do. He could manage angry Taiga, hungry Taiga, happy Taiga, sleepy Taiga, lonely Taiga, but this... whatever it was was foreign to him and he was severely out of his depth.

"But... Minorin?" she asked, vague and tremulous.

He shook his head violently. "Forget Kushieda, why are you crying? What happened?"

"You should go..." she murmured, even as she clutched his hands tight.

"Are you hurt? What's wrong?"

Taiga's eyes overflowed with tears again and she ducked her head, trying to hide from him.

He released her hands and reached forward to clutch her shoulders instead, shaking her gently. "Taiga! What's wrong? _Taiga!?_ "

She didn't answer. Instead she threw herself forward into his arms, clinging to the front of his costume. Wrapping his arms around her was instinctive and natural as breathing. They had never really embraced before tonight, but they had gotten so comfortable in each other's personal spaces that it didn't matter. A hug was a hug, and Taiga badly needed the comfort.

Her tears were subsiding, though, thank goodness. She still held tightly onto him, but her sobs had ceased. The urgency of his concern went slack, because he was certain now that she wasn't _physically_ hurt. However, he was still trying to puzzle out what was wrong. She had been smiling when she pushed him out the door. What could have changed in the two or three minutes it took him to walk down two flights of stairs and not even a block and a half up the sidewalk?

He smoothed his felt-covered hand over the back of her head, wishing the paws on his stupid costume came off so that he could run his fingers through her soft hair.

It astounded him how tiny and delicate she felt in his arms. He knew Taiga was small, of course he did. She took the concept of 'petite' to an entirely new level, but she had such an enormous presence, such life and energy, that it was easy to forget that. In some ways, she was an amazon, and it was easy to forget that she didn't even clear a meter and a half tall. But at the moment, that astounding force of personality seemed to have collapsed inward, retreating beneath her skin and leaving her vulnerable.

And yet, Ryuuji knew that incredible strength of hers was still there. Even at her most fragile moments, he had seen her get back on her feet over and over again. Her façade might crack now and again, but Taiga had a will that could not be broken.

He didn't dare let her go, though. Just because he knew she could stand on her own didn't mean she should have to, and every time he left her side he ended up regretting it.

When he looked up for a moment, he saw Minori standing down the street, watching them. That unnamed _something_ was still in her eyes. She nodded once, slowly, like she was making a decision, and her gaze never left his. With a small wave, she turned and walked away, back in the direction she had come from.

Ryuuji watched her go, and though he couldn't have explained why, he felt as though it was the end of something.

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 **A/N part deux-** Just a little taste of a chapter to kick things off, yes? I suspect the next chapter will be comparable in length to this one, but hopefully after that ( _whenever_ that may be) things will pick up and chapters will get more substantial.

 _Reviews are always appreciated._


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